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The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released draft guidelines recommending the use of low-dose CT scans to spot lung cancer in high-risk smokers and former smokers, targeting the heaviest users from ages 55 to 79. USPSTF co-vice chair and family physician Michael LeFevre, M.D., said family physicians should consider a patient's overall health when making screening decisions, but the "balance of benefit and harm is better served by focusing screening on those high-risk groups."

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The US Preventive Services Task Force issued a draft recommendation that taking low-dose aspirin may help prevent colorectal cancer, along with heart attacks and stroke, in high-risk adults ages 50 to 69. Study data showed aspirin may lower colorectal cancer incidence by 40% and deaths by 33% in people taking it for at least five to 10 years. One physician said he was concerned the recommendation may cause people to forgo screening colonoscopies.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has recommended that at-risk pregnant women take daily low-dose aspirin after 12 weeks of gestation to reduce the odds of preeclampsia. Low-dose aspirin in high-risk cases is associated with a 24% lower risk of preeclampsia, 14% lower odds of preterm birth and 20% reduced risk of intrauterine growth restriction. The final recommendations appear in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

With more than a third of Americans being current or former smokers, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has recommended that individuals at high risk of developing lung cancer undergo low-dose computed tomography screening. The group considers heavy smokers ages 55 to 80 with a 30-pack-year or more habit and heavy smokers who quit the habit within the past 15 years to be at high risk for the disease. The recommendations appear in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued new guidelines recommending annual lung cancer screening for current and former heavy smokers ages 55 to 80 using low-dose CT scans. The benefits of screening individuals at high risk of lung cancer outweigh the potential risks linked to yearly CT scans, the panel said. The guidelines appear in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has released draft guidelines recommending the use of low-dose CT scans to spot lung cancer in high-risk smokers and former smokers. Screening should target patients 55 to 80 who smoked one pack daily for 30 years or two packs per day for 15 years, including those who have stopped smoking within the past 15 years. However, annual screenings should be limited to high-risk individuals due in part to potential risk associated with radiation exposure, one of the authors noted.